Pulse modulation system



June 17, 1952 L. A. MEACHAM PULSE MODULATION SYSTEM 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 19, 1949 /NVE/VTOR I.. A. ME ACH/1M n N oH T T A June 17, 1952 L. A. MEACHAMv PULSE MODULATION SYSTEM Filed May 19, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 STEP CURRENT F/G. 3B. II

F/G. 3A.

INI/ENTOR L. A. MEACHAM ATTORNEY Patented June 17, 10952` Ai sur PULSE MoiJULATioN sYsTEM Lamed' A; Meacham, New Providence; N. J;, assignor to-Belll- Telephone Laboratories, Incorpoi-ated; New York,'Ni Y., a corporation of New York Application May 19, 1949, Serial'No. 94,08`1` This invention relates to pulse 'transmission systems and more particularly to quantized systems wherein the. input. Wave form .to be transmitted is subjectedA to. instantaneousl compression. v

tis known that. wave forms suchas-speech current may be transmitted by regularly sampled values without distortion if the sampling rate has a frequency at least twice the highest frequency contained in the wave form. Such sampling is basic totime-division multiplex .and to the so-called pulsev modulation systems,A such as, for example, pulse` position modulation, pulse length or duration modulation,u pulse, amplitude modulationand pulselcod'e modulation. Itis 4also known that if `the.'various;amplitudes'- of theY Wave forms are. transmittedl discrete-- intervals (quanta) ratheri" th'anl continuously'- .varying` val.- ues, noise and other extraneoussignals will not degrade the recovered signalunless then'oise' amplitudes are suiciently large -tol throw `th'erzsignal from its correct level 4.to `anotheron ythe quant-ized scale; thisis known asta quantized system.`

Quantizedl systems inherently' contain a cer'- tain amo-untoznoiseiknown' asquantizing noise which is`idueA to Y the Jfacttthat'l only fa finite number of amplitudes aretrecognized:- It' is'iurther known Athat quantizing noise'imay beV reduced by instantaneousV compression of.' the' wave form to be sampled. If thetotal-:number'of recognized discrete intervals remains'.- constant, instantaneous compression? results devotingmore.' of these intervalsV tolow signal levels" andffewer of them to the higher'levels. Since quantizing noise varies inversely Vwith thenumberfof discrete intervals recognized, theV signal-tcii-noise ratiov is improved at the lower levels allowingbetter transmission of weaklsignais. The'increased' noise at the higher levels'isfoundiito be relatively'unimportant if a proper compression ratio isf maintained and ifi a:.suiiiciently large'nuniber of discrete amplitudes are? recognized.` Ifv beforefthe Wave is derivedzfrom the'sample's atthereceiver by means of a low-pass'llterithe amplitude' range of the samples -is 'restoredsbyexpansicm a replica of the inputwavefislobtained. AlthougliY compression of the input'wave*increases the'v frequency range of I the wave /du'e-lto harmonic `dis-- tortion, it may be shown'that Atire sampling rate and hencey frequency band-.neednot be increased; In non-pulse'transmission'systems, instantaneous compression willlusuallyf result-,fin 1an increase of the band Width required yfor distortiorrless transmission. f

.ffilthouglfiv quantizingfis alfundamentalattribute 8'` Claims. (Ci. S32-9) of pulse code modulation because' only a'nite number offv levels can'l be recognized .by a" riite code, it isA also applicable" and b'enecial tothe other pulse modulation systems.

It is an object of this invention to'instantaneously compressa sampledportion ofaninput wave formand'substantially*'simultaneously pro duce therefrom a quantizefdfmodulated" pulse'.`

It is a' further object-to'producea system capa'- ble4 of performing such' afunction'whereiri the compression ratio andthe degreeof quantization may easily'befv'aried.'

Other obj ectsand features ofthe invention 'may loe-better understoodvv by: a consideration ofthe following detailed description when read in accordance with theatt'a'ched" drawings in which:

Fig. l shows in block diagram form a circuit embodying principles of the invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates wave forms appearing in the device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3A shows schematically a simplified sweep circuit which may bef incorporated,- in" the device of Fig. 1; Fig. 3B illustratesfwa-ve'formsfdescriptive ci the sweep generator of Fig. 3A;

Fig. 4 illustrates schematically a coincidence detector which may be vincorporated in the device of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 iiiusiraies schematically abortion of'ith'e demodulator of Fig; 1.

For the purpose of illus-tration tlenventio'n will be described-ais relating to a device adapted for the study of theeiiects of quantizing and instantaneous compression on a given input signal-. Such a device@ which willbe4V designated a signal quantizer, is illustratdf'inFig'; 1. It'com# prises priiicipaiiyy a timing circuit il, 'af puise rsrodulator and quantizer 2l and a demodulator The basic control of the timing circuit Il is the l-megacyc'leoscillator l2' fromfwhich are d'-AV rived all other controlling; freqiienciesof the de# sired wave shape. The Z-megacx'zcleoutput.-A is derived from the foscillator |21v byrthe=use of a conventional doubler I3 while the 400, 200 andr8' kilccycle outputs are" generated 'therefroml by means of step-down multvibrators I4; l5; wand il, respectiveiy; Ther8ekilocycle-'single tripimule tivibratorsV land' Ilcontro'l thesw'eep gener-' ator and? the variouslclamps; Any; of `the 'higher frequencies may. be selected-by' meansof a selec^` tor switch I8 to be used in the-.generationl-of quantizingcpips by'- the pip generator 9;

WithV particular fre'ference' nowito-S'Fig-z 2,-Itli`e' various possible' outputs'C of? the? pip-A `generator`v I9 are illustratedat A. Theoutputs'ofwthe 8=kilo` cycle single trip multivibrators lliI and i are shown, respectively as wave forms B and C. These pulses are each microseconds in duration and occur at a repetition rate of 8 kilocycles, or at 125-microsecond intervals, with the return to normal of lthe multivibrator IE initiating a pulse from the multivibrator Il.

The non-linear sweep by which an input signal is instantaneously compressed is formed by the sweep generator 20. The start of the sweep is controlled by the output of multivibrator il, wave form C. The sweep duration is determined by a single trip multivibrator located within the sweep generator circuit. The duration of the sweep is adjustable over a range of values with a nominal value for the purpose of illustration of 80 microseconds. The means by which the sweep is generated may be better understood by referring to an exemplary circuit shown in Fig. 3A and the wave shape illustrative thereof as shown in Fig. 3B.

A constant current generator, illustrated as a pentode 4i with an adjustable source of grid bias 42, supplies a regulated current I to a resonant circuit 43 and a Variable condenser 44 bypassed by an electronic switch 45. A rectiiier or diode 4S and a resistor 4l are also provided in order to quench oscillation of the resonant circuit 43 at a proper time, as will be described. If at a time to the electronic switch 45 is opened (by the multivibrator Il) a stepped current of magnitude I will be supplied to the reactive elements. 'Ihe voltage e1 across the resonant circuit 43.will be a sine wave of the expression e I sin wt where l w= Vl L01 The voltage ez across the condenser 44 will comprise a linearly increasing wave of the form Thel output of the sweep generator 20 comprises the sum of lthese two voltages and is represented by the expression:

sin wt t wCi +52) of ci. This voltage acts to bias the diode 46 in the non-conducting direction throughout a complete cycle of ei, and thus prevents the diode from aiecting the oscillation of the resonant circuit 43.

At the end of one cycle of e1, the electronic switch 45 is closed by the multivibrator i7. This closure performs three functions: (l) it provides a bypass to ground for the current I, interrupting its flow through the lreactive elements; (2) it rapidly discharges condenser Cz through the diode 46; and, (3) while the diode is thus conducting in the fforward or low impedance direction, it effectively connects resistor 41 in parallel with the resonant circuit 43, thus quickly damping all traces of oscillation remaining therein.

The circuit is thus left quiescent in readiness for the next cycle of operation.

It is essential that the period of e1 be constant, microseconds in the present illustration, and it is desirable that the amplitude of ci have several fixed values that can be selected at will to effect diierent degrees of compression. These conditions are accomplished in the illustrated embodiment of the invention in the following manner. The period of e1 is maintained constant by making the inductance L and capacitance C1 of the tuned circuit 43 constant. The amplitude is Varied by changing the value of the current I supplied to the circuit by operating the potentiometer 48, which varies the xed bias of the constant current pentode 4|.

It is also necessary that the slope and amplitude of e2 be constant; this is accomplished by holding the ratio of constant. To achieve this, the moving element of potentiometer 48 is .mechanically coupled to the condenser 44 and varies the value of the capacitance C2 so as to maintain a constant ratio of By means of the common control of potentiometer 48 and condenser 44, therefore, any one of a family of sweep voltages and hence compression characteristics may be selected. A representative output of the sweep generator 20 is illustrated as the solid wave form E in Fig. 2, its voltage ordinate being common with that of wave form D; the dotted curves represent lesser degrees of compression.

Referring again to Figs` l and 2, the quantizing action of the circuit is accomplished in the following manner. The input signal is combined with a direct-current bias of such a value that the resultant voltage is always positive. This positive voltage is then sampled at an 8- kilocycle rate under control of the output of the multivibrator I6. Each sample is stored, for example, as a charge on a 'condenser and held for the l25-microsecond multivibrator repetition period at which time a new sample is taken. This action is accomplished in a Well-known manner by the circuit 22 and gives a stepped Wave form, shown at D, Fig. 2. The stepped succession of samples is applied to the coincidence detector 23 along with the output of the pip generator I9 and the sweep voltage of the generator 20.

A coincidence detector of the type that may be employed is shown in Fig. 4. The sweep voltage from the generator 20 is applied to the control grid of a triode 24 while the positive input sample from the circuit 22 is applied to the cathode. (The output of the pip generator I9, also supplied to the cathode, will temporarily be disregarded.) At the beginning of a cycle, with the sweep at its starting and most negative point, the positive held value of the signal on the cathode keeps the cathode positive with respect to the grid. The tube is thus maintained in its cut-off condition and no current will ow. As the sweep drives the grid more positive a point is reached where the tube begins to conduct. When this occurs, the current ow causes a voltage drop across the plate resistor. This voltage change is amplified by an amplifier 25 and used to trip the nip-flop multivibrator 26 shown in Fig. 1. The point at which` the multivibrator is tripped may be' called the coincidence point and its position (at the intersection of wave forms D and E) depends upon the amplitude of the sample voltage which is supplied to the cathode, the sweep wave form and amplitude being constant. The variation of thel sample voltage represents the variations of the signal voltage and hence variation of the coincidence point is a function of the input signal amplitude.

The flip-flop multivibrator 26, which has been tripped by the-voltage representative of the coincidence point, is returnedv to its normal psition at the end of the sweep interval by the multivibrator I6. The output of the multivibrator 26, wave form F, therefore represents a length-modulated pulse with-the pulse length being some function of input signal amplitude depending on the amount of compression supplied by the curved sweep.

if the negative pips' of suflicient amplitude are applied to the cathode of tube.24 in Fig. 4 along with the held value of the input sample, the coincidence point will always coincide with the occurrence of one of these pips. The coincidence point will thus be limited to a pip position and will occur at a pip ahead of the point ofr actual coincidence. Accordingly, these pips are the means of quantizing the input signal.

The number of quantized levels in the output is determined by the number of pips in the sweep intervals. For example, if the pips are produced at a Z-megacycle rate they occur-at 0.5- microsecond intervals, At. If the sweep duration is 80 microseconds the number of available levels is 160. For the ZOO-kilocycle pip rate, At equals 5 microseconds, and the number of discrete levels is only 16. An increase in the pip repetition rate therefore increases the number of quantizing levels afforded to the input signal. And, as previously mentioned, the larger the number of quantizing levels, the smaller will be the quantizing distortion.

As previously explained, it is desirable to devote a greater relative proportion of the total number of quantized levels to the smaller signaling amplitudes. A more satisfactory signalto-noise ratio is thus maintainedover the entire signal range. This is accomplished by means of the curved sweep. By properly biasing the input signal, the signal Waves may be made to vary about an axis which coincides with the axis of symmetry Sof the curved sweepE. The signal is thus instantaneously compressed, since the curved sweep expands the time range of coincidence points reserved for small signal amplitudes at the expense of the periods reserved for large ones.

The amplitude change, Ae, between adjacent quantizing levels, that is, Ae for a particular time interval At, depends upon the slopeof the sweep. The compression ratio is dened as the ratio of the maximum to minimum valuesv of Ae over the sweep intervals and may be shown to equal thus a function of the capacitances Cl and C2. It can be seen from the curve of in. Fig.`3B thatby the: use ofxza curved sweepne,` fora givenvaluefofA the vpip period At; hasbeen madevery smallinthevregiorr, over'which the signalj level is low.

The demodulating circuit, 3l isv usedy to. reproduce'the input signal in a. quantized form. By means of the samplingcircuit 32A a: sample of the sweep voltage E (or of a slightly delayed replica thereof) isrtaken at the time marked by the leading edge of thelength-modulated pulse F formed by the multivibrator 26. The amplitude of this sample represents, on a quantized scale, the amplitude of the input signal sample. This action may be better understood by reference to'Fig. 5.

The length-modulated pulse F of the flip-nop multivibrator 26 is. impressed on the grid of a triode 33 which is operated as a cathode follower. The cathode of triode 33; is: connected to the grid of triode. 36, and is. normally at such a potential that triode 36 does not conduct. The sweep voltage fromthe sweep generatorZ is impressed by way of a delay element -40 on'the grid of a triode 34, causing the condenser 35 to be charged as shown by wave form G and with a polarity as indicated in Fig. 5. ,The occurrence of the pulse F on the grid oftube 33 causes tube 36 to conduct, and thisin turn drives the grid of tube 34 negative and beyond cutoff. The condenser 35, therefore, is chargedin accordance with the sweep voltage only until a pulse F cuts oi the flow of plate current in the tube 34. The small delay of the element d0 is preferably. adjusted .to be equal to the operating time of the coincidence detector 23, the flip-flop multivibrator 26, and the sampling circuit 32, thus compensating for their total delay. Accordingly, the charge established on the condenser 35 represents the quantized amplitude of the input'wave sample.

In order to standardize thetiming of the correspondingoutput samples, this charge is again sampled kand held by the output sampling circuit 31 under control of the single trip multivibrator I6 and from there is fed through a.. cathode follower stage to an output circuit 38; The volt:- age produced by the output sampler 3T is shown by wave form H. The condenser 35 in. Fig. 5 holds its charge as shown by wave form G until a pulse from the multivibrator Il carries the grid of the triode 39 positive and allows the condenser to discharge therethrough. It may be noted that the condenser 35 is not. dicharged until immediately after the operation of the final sampling circuit 31. The sampler 3l holds its charge during the entire 125-microsecond interval between the pulses off the multivibrator I3. If desired, a low-pass filter may beincluded in the output circuit 38 to eliminate frequency components lying above the band of the original input wave signal.

The output of the demodulator circuit 3l may be analyzed and studied to determine the effects of various degrees of quantization and compression on the input wave signal. As previously described the degree of quantizing mayl be varied bythe switch I8 and the deg-ree of compression may be varied by operating the potentiometer 48.

It may be noted by reference to the wave forms of Fig. 2 that the coincidence point ofthe signal quantizer represents a position modulation. The position of the pulse in the -microsecond interval of the sweep characteristic is determined by the signal amplitude. Also, this pulse position is quantized` so that' if thecoincidenceactionY `is,

caused to trip a single trip multivibrator the output is a quantized pulse position modulation. The output of the flip-dop multivibrator 26 shown as Wave form F of Fig. 2 is a pulse Whose length varies with the amplitude of the input signal. This too is quantized by the pips and represents a quantized pulse length or duration modulation. Any sample taken of the Wave form H of Fig. 2 would be a quantized pulse amplitude modulation. Such a pulse could be converted into a pulse code modulation. It Will be readily apparent that the methods of the. invention may also be applied to means for transmitting and receiving signal waves as well as to a device for the study of degrees of compression and quantization as disclosed herein in detail. Other embodiments and modifications within the scope of the invention will also occur to one skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. In a quantized pulse modulation system for the transmission of complex wave forms. said system having a plurality of tandem stages, means in a first stage to recurrently obtain samples of said wave form, means to produce pulses modulated in accordance with the magnitude of each of said samples comprising means in a second stage to quantize said modulation and means also in said second stage to instantaneously compress each of said samples.

2. Pulse modulation apparatus having a plurality of tandem operating stages comprising means to instantaneously compress a complex Wave form, said means comprising means in a first stage for generating a wave form having a wave shape similar to the desired compression characteristic, means in a second stage for recurrently obtaining samples of said complex wave form and means in a third stage to progressively compare the magnitude of each of said samples with the instantaneous amplitude of said generated wave form, quantizing means comprising means in said third stage to limit the number of possible compressed values to a predetermined nite number, and means for producing pulses modulated in accordance with the results of said comparisons.

3. In a system for producing pulses modulated in accordance with a complex wave form, timing means, means under control of said timing means for recurrently sampling said complex wave form, means for compressing said samples comprising generator means under control of said timing means for generating a continuously varying wave form having a wave shape similar to the desired compression characteristic for each of said samples, means fcr comparing the magnitude of each of said samples with the instantaneous amplitude or" its associated generated wave form and adapted to produce an electrical response when the instantaneous amplitude of said generated wave form shall be related to the magnitude of said sample in a predetermined ratio, pulse forming means, and means to modulate said pulses in accordance with the character of said electrical response. p

4. Apparatus to produce pulses modulated in accordance with a complex Wave form comprising means to recurrently obtain samples'of said Wave form, means for instantaneously compressing said samples comprising means for generating a Wave form for each of said samples having a wave shape similar to the desired compression characteristic, means to progressively compare the instantaneous amplitude of said generated wave form with the magnitude of its associated sample, means to detect the existence of a predetermined ratio between the magnitude of said sample and said instantaneous amplitude and to produce an electrical variation therefrom, means to generate a train of recurrent pulses, quantizing means comprising means to inject said train of pulses into said detection means to cause said electrical variation to occur only at the time of occurrence of a pulse of said pulse train, and means to produce an output pulse having a leading and a trailing edge,` the timing of one of said edges under control of means synchronized with said waveform generating means and the timing of the other of said edges under control of said electrical variations.

5. Apparatus to produce pulses modulated in accordance with a complex wave form comprising means to recurrently obtain samples of said wave form, means for instantaneously compressing said samples comprising means for generating a wave form foreach of said samples having a wave shape similar to the desired compression characteristic, means to progressively compare the instantaneous amplitude of said generated Wave form with the magnitude of its associated sample, means to detect the existence of a predetermined ratio between the magnitude of said sample and said instantaneous amplitude and to produce an electrical Variation therefrom, means to generate a train of recurrent pulses, quantizing means comprising means to inject said train of pulses into said detection means to cause said electrical variation to occur only at the time of occurrence of a pulse of said pulse train, pulse forming means, and means to control the length of said pulse comprising means controlled by said electrical variation to initiate said pulse and means synchronized with said wave form generating means to terminate said pulse.

6. Apparatus to produce pulses modulated in accordance with a complex waveform comprising timing means, means under control of said timing means to recurrently obtain samples of said complex wave form, means to substantially simultaneously compress said samples and produce a quantized pulse modulated in accordance with the amplitude of said sample comprising means under control oi said timing means to generate for each of said samples a complex wave form having a wave shape similar to the desired compression characteristic, means to compare the magnitude of each of said samples with the instantaneous amplitude of its associated generated wave form, means to detect the existence of a predetermined ratio between the magnitude of said sample and the instantaneous amplitude of said generated wave form and to produce an electric impulse therefrom, quantizing means to limit the production of said electrical impulses to a nite number of times predetermined by said quantizing means, pulse forming means, and means under control of said electric impulses to modulate said pulses.

7. In a pulse modulation system for the transmission of complex wave forms, means to recurrently obtain samples of said complex wave forms, means to instantaneously compress said samples, quantizing means comprising a source of recurrent pulses and means to apply said recurrent pulses to said compression means to limit the possible values of the compressed samples to a predetermined nite number and means to produce pulses modulated in accordance with the compressed samples.

8. Pulse modulation apparatus comprising means to instantaneously compress a complex of each of said indications to the occurrence time of one of said pulses and means for producing pulses modulated in accordance with said indications.

LARNED A. MEACHAM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Goodall Apr. 6, 1948 Number 

